Nall
Usually an English surname from “at the hall,” originally marking someone who lived or worked at a hall.
The #4,454 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,758 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is generally explained as a reduced form of the Middle English phrase atte hall, meaning “at the hall.” In older spellings, the final -t of atte could attach itself to the noun, and over time the phrase was worn down to forms like Nall. Some 19th-century writers also allowed a second possibility from Old English healh, meaning “corner,” “nook,” or sometimes a slope, but the “hall” explanation is the main one.
History
English surname writers in the 19th and early 20th centuries treated Nall as a local or topographic name, especially one tied to residence at a hall. The form is closely related to other surnames that began as phrases with at the, where the preposition became fused into the name. It survives today as a relatively uncommon surname in the United States and Britain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A similar surname-development pattern helps explain names like Nall, Naylor, and other forms that began as ordinary location phrases before turning into fixed family names.
From the historical record
“Piers Plowman, 4027. NALL (Eng,) a contr. of Atte Nail or Atten- HaU = At the Hall [E.M.E. at \en (for \er) Halle, O.E. cet \ckre hle)alle] Occasionally, however, -all may be for O.E. heal(h; a corner, also (for heald)[ a slope.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)